Why don’t the people at Democratic Underground hate Obama for doing the same things they hated Bush for doing?

I’m a Libertarian. I have never voted for a candidate who supported military interventionism, corporate welfare, or the war on drugs.

Why don’t the people at Democratic Underground hate Obama for doing the same things they hated Bush for doing?

Let’s look at some examples. Each and every one of these examples includes a link (in the blue text) to prove that Obama really did do these things.

Issue 1: Military interventionism

In June 2011, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said that Obama had violated the Constitution when he launched military operations in Libya without Congressional approval.

The people at DU (Democratic Underground) hated Bush for his military interventionism in Iraq. Why don’t they hate Obama for his military inerventionism in Libya?

Issue 2: Giving a no-bid contract to Halliburton

In May 2010, it was reported that the Obama administration had selected KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, for a no-bid contract worth as much as $568 million through 2011 for military support services in Iraq, just hours after the Justice Department had said it would pursue a lawsuit accusing the Houston-based company of taking kickbacks from two subcontractors on Iraq-related work.

The people at DU hated Bush for doing that. Why don’t they hate Obama for doing the same thing?

Issue 3: Having an administration full of lobbyists

While running for President, Obama had promised that, unlike Bush, he would not have any lobbyists working in his administration. However, by February 2010, he had more than 40 lobbyists working in his administration.

It would have been so easy for Obama to keep his promise to not have any lobbyists in his administration. Why don’t DU’ers hate Obama for breaking this promise?

Issue 4: Having close ties to Wall St.

Although Obama claims to support the Occupy Wall St. movement, the truth is that he has raised more money from Wall St. than any other candidate during the last 20 years.

In early 2012, Obama held a fundraiser where Wall St. investment bankers and hedge fund managers each paid $35,800 to attend.

In October 2011, Obama hired Broderick Johnson, a longtime Wall Street lobbyist, to be his new senior campaign adviser. Johnson had worked as a lobbyist for JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Fannie Mae, Comcast, Microsoft, and the oil industry.

That’s the exact same kind of stuff that Bush did – except that Obama raised even more money from Wall St. than Bush did. So why are the folks at DU giving Obama a pass, when they hated Bush?

Issue 5: Abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay

Under President Obama, abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay became even worse than it had been under President Bush.

Oops! Obama has a “D” after his name instead of an “R,” so the people at DU don’t have any hatred for Obama the way they did for Bush.

Issue 6: Supporting the $700 billion TARP corporate-welfare bailout

While Senator, Obama voted for the $700 billion TARP bank bailout bill.

The posters at DU absolutely hated Bush for this one, but they don’t seem to mind at all that Obama voted for it.

Issue 7: DEA raids on medical marijuana in states where it’s legal

This is a pretty long one. And remember – the blue text contains links to sources for all of it.

In February 2010, DEA agents raided a medical marijuana grower in Highlands Ranch in Colorado, a state where medical marijuana is legal. Also in February 2010, DEA agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in Culver City in California, a state where medical marijuana is legal. Furthermore, in July 2010, the DEA raided at least four medical marijuana growers in San Diego, California. Also in July 2010, the DEA raided a medical marijuana facility in Covelo, California. Then in September 2010, the DEA conducted raids on at least five medical marijuana dispensaries in Las Vegas, Nevada, where medical marijuana is legal. In 2011, the DEA conducted raids on medical marijuana in Seattle, Washington, West Hollywood, California, and Helena, Montana, all places where it is legal. In April 2012, the DEA carried out several raids on medical marijuana in Oakland, California.

In February 2012, Rolling Stone magazine wrote that Obama’s war against medical marijuana went “far beyond anything undertaken by George W. Bush.”

In May 2012, U.S. Congressperson Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said she had “strong concerns” about Obama’s forced closure of five medical marijuana facilities in Pelosi’s congressional district.

Commenting on Obama’s crackdown on medical marijuana, U.S. Congressman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) said, “I’m very disappointed… They look more like the Bush administration than the Clinton administration.”

These are people with AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other illnesses, who have been given legal prescriptions by their doctor to use medical marijuana. But Obama is sending in armed agents to prevent these patients from using the very medication that their doctors have prescribed for them. Where is the outrage toward Obama at DU over this issue?

Issue 8: Using tax dollars to reward political contributors in the energy industry

Although Obama stated that all of the green energy companies that received taxpayer money were chosen “based solely on their merits,” the truth is that 71% of these grants and loans went to Obama donors and fundraisers, who raised $457,834 for his campaign, and were later approved for grants and loans totaling more than $11 billion.

Bush was evil for having political ties with energy companies, but it’s just fine and dandy that Obama has the same kinds of ties.

Issue 9: Looking the other way at tax cheaters

Obama nominated Timothy Geithner, a repeat tax cheater, to head the government agency that enforces the tax laws.

This is actually far worse than anything that Bush did regarding tax cheaters. While Bush allowed tax cheaters to get away with their crimes, Obama actually put a tax cheater in charge of enforcing the tax laws.

Issue 10: Giving tax dollars to AIG executives

Obama signed a stimulus bill that spent money on bonuses for AIG executives. Prior to signing this bill, Obama had said, “when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.” However, after reading “line by line” and signing the stimulus bill that protected the AIG bonuses, Obama pretended to be shocked and outraged at the bonuses, and said, “Under these circumstances, it’s hard to understand how derivative traders at A.I.G. warranted any bonuses at all, much less $165 million in extra pay… How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?” and also said that he would “pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses.”

On this issue, Obama is actually worse than Bush, because unlike Obama, Bush never pretended to be shocked and outraged at something that he actually supported.

And when Obama said that he would “pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses,” I guess that doesn’t include the “legal avenue” known as… vetoing the bill in the first place.

Issue 11: Supporting government faith based programs

Obama expanded the federal government’s faith based programs which had been started by President George W. Bush.

So not only did Obama support the very same faith based programs that DUers hated Bush for supporting – Obama actually expanded on these programs. And yet, not a peep out of the DUers.

Issue 12: Supporting the Patriot Act

In May 2011, Obama signed a renewal of the Patriot Act.

We all know how much the DUers hated Bush for this one. So where’s the hatred for Obama?

Issue 13: Increasing the national debt

The national debt increased more during Obama’s first three years and two months than it did during all eight years of George W. Bush’s presidency.

But Obama has a “D” after his name instead of an “R,” so it’s OK.

Issue 14: Supporting indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without filing any charges

In December 2011, ACLU executive director Anthony D. Romero criticized Obama for signing a bill that gave the U.S. government the power to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without any charges being filed or any trial taking place.

Crickets chirping over at DU.

Issue 15: Supporting warrnentless wiretapping

President Obama has defended warrantless wiretapping.

But the DUers don’t hate him for doing so.

Issue 16: Supporting the FCC’s fining of CBS over Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction

Obama came out in favor of the FCC’s fining of the CBS TV network $550,000 for showing Janet Jackson’s breast during the 2004 Super Bowl.

This was horrible when Bush supported it – but it’s A-OK when Obama supports it!

Issue 17: Avoiding prosecution of Wall. St criminals

As of May 2012, the Obama administration had not filed any criminal charges against any of the top financial executives.

DUer’s hated Bush for not going after Wall St. criminals, but don’t mind that Obama has let them off the hook too.